Fastening means for heel construction



Nov. 3, 1959 s DARVIE FASTENING MEANS FOR HEEL CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 25, 1958 SAMUEL DARVIE BY 52? ATTORNEY Nov. 3, 1959 s. DARVIE FASTENING MEANS FOR HEEL CONSTRUCTION Filed Feb. 25, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR SAMUEL DARVIE 52A ATTORNEY United States Patent FASTENING MEANS FOR HEEL CONSTRUCTION Samuel Darvie, New York, N.Y.

Application February 25, 1958, Serial No. 717,418

4 Claims. (Cl. 36-34) This invention relates to heel constructions for ladies shoes, particularly to heels made of metal or plastic material.

With the advent of the extremely high and thin-styled heels, it has been found expedient, both from structural and fabricating considerations, to employ metal or plastic as the constituent material, since these lend themselves to ready fabrication by casting processes, and are generally stronger structurally than wooden heels of similar proportions. In the operative attachment of cast heels of conventional construction, the upper portions thereof are generally provided with threaded holes to receive suitable securing screws thereinthe automatic multiple-head nailing apparatus employed with wood heels obviously not being usable. Because of the need to employ screw-securing means for metallic or plastic heels, relatively complicated heel structures have had to be used to provide adequate anchoring-means within the bodies of said heels for said screw or equivalent holding means. Such relatively complicated structures, together with the relatively slow screw-attaching methods employed, have introduced a serious cost factor in the manufacture of shoes provided with such metal or plastic heels.

It is the primary objective of my invention to provide heel structures made of metal, plastic or other castable or moldable material adapted to be secured to a shoe by conventional nailing means, particularly the automatic multiple-head nailing machines used in conjunction with wooden heels. A further object of my invention is to enable such heels also to receive therein one or more screw fasteners, if desired, Without the use of threaded apertures within the body of the heel. And in this aspect of my invention, it is my objective to provide means on said heel structures for frictionally receiving a plurality of nails driven in through the rear portion of the shoe, and when required, for frictionally receiving screw-threaded meanswithout incorporating within the body of the heel any threaded apertured portions whatsoever.

It is a further object of my invention to provide fastener-receiving portions for accommodating nails of vari-, ous predetermined arrangements, and to enable all said nails to be operatively received by the heel structure when driven in directions not perfectly parallel to each other, whereby such nails will in efiect be self-locating fasteners.

It is also my objective to provide heel structures having the aforesaid advantages and features, and which can be readily and economically fabricated.

Other objects, features and advantages will appear from the drawings and the description hereinafter given.

Referring to the drawings,

Figure l is a plan view of a heel structure according to one form of my invention.

Figure 2 is a section of Figure 1 taken along line 2-2.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary section of Figure 1 taken along line 3-3.

Z,9i9,788 Patented Nov. 3, 1959 the Figure 4 is a fragmentary section of Figure 1 taken along line 4-4.

Figure 5 is a front View of the heel structure above referred to, shown looking in the direction of arrows 5-5 of Figure 2.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary longitudinal medial section of the rear portion of a shoe with the above-referred-to heel structure attached thereto, said heel structure, illustrated partly in elevation, being shown secured to the shoe by a screw member, a number of nail fasteners being shown partly driven into the shoe and. heel member, the inner lining being shown raised away from the rear portion of the shoe.

Figure 7 is a fragmentary sectional view like that of Figure 6, but showing the nail fasteners in their respective fully driven positions.

Figure 8 is a fragmentary sectional plan of Figure 6 taken substantially along line 8-8, but showing the nail fasteners in their fully driven positions of Figure 7.

Figure 9 is a fragmentary section of Figure 6 taken substantially along line 99.

Figure 10 is a section of Figure 6 taken substantially along line lib-ii).

In my invention as illustrated in Figures 1 to 10, the heel member generally designated 15 consists of a body portion of preferably cast or molded material, such as metal or plastic. For the purpose of this specification the body portion will be referred to as made of cast material, this being intended to include both cast metal and molded plastic or other material.

In the particular embodiment illustrated, the upper portion of said heel member comprises a bifurcated boss generally designated 16 consisting of two spaced components l7 and 18 extending upwardly from the body of the heel member into the upper cavity 19 thereof, said components 17 and 18 having respective top surfaces 20 and 21 positioned for facing relation to the underside of the rear portion of a shoe, as will more clearly hereinafter appear. Disposed within said boss components 17 and 18 are the elongated recessed portions 22, 23, 24 and 25, these extending downwardly from the said respective top surfaces 2!) and 21 into the respective bodies of said components 17 and 18. Said recessed portions thus present a plurality of elongated openings 22a, 23a, 24a and 25a, each being, in the preferred form illustrated, of a width somewhat greater than the diameter of the nail fasteners provided for securing the heel to the shoe, for reasons which will hereinafter be set forth.

In the construction illustrated, the components 17 and 18 of boss 16 consist of a plurality of spaced walls 26, 27, 23, 29, 3t and 31, the opposing surfaces of adjacent ones of said walls-such as surfaces 32 and 33 (Figure 4)-being flared divergently upwardly. The said boss components 17 and 18 are spaced apart to provide a recessed portion 34, also with upwardly flared divergent opposing walls 35 and 36. As will more clearly hereinafter appear, the distance between walls 35 and 36 is such as to frictionally receive a screw member 49 adapted to serve as one of the securing members be tween the heel and the rear portion of the shoe. In; the construction illustrated, the said walls 35 and 36 are provided with opposing pairs of grooves 37 and 38 into which diametrically opposite lateral sides of the said screw are intended to extend for frictional engagement. The respective rear portions 39 and 40 of said boss components 17 and 18 are spaced apart a distance substantially equal to the distance between the said opposing surfaces, such as 32 and 33, of the apertured portions 22, 23, etc.

The shoe 41 to which the said heel member 15 is to be attached has a rear portion 42 adapted to underlie the inner lining 43, in conventional manner, said rear portion 42; overlying the tongue 4-4 extending rearwardly from the sole portion 45 of the shoe. It will be noted that said tongue portion 44 is proportioned for overlying engagement with the said top surfaces 20 and 21 of the boss 16. A hole 4-6 is formed into said rear portion and adjacent tongue 44 of the shoe (Figure 6), the upper portion of said hole being counterbored at 47 to receive the head 43 of the screw 49. The said hole 46 is positioned directly above said recessed portion 34 formed by the opposing walls 35 and 36 of the respective boss components 17 and 18. When said screw 49 is operatively inserted, it 'frictionally engages the grooved portions 37 and 38 of the respective opposing walls 35 and 36 of said boss components 17 and 18, so that the heel member 15 is held against the rear portion of the shoe.

In this construction of the heel member, there are a sutficiently large number of pairs of grooves 37 and 38 so as to enable the screw 49 operatively to enter into one of said pairs of grooves, whereby threads will be cut therein by the operative turning of the screw. Thereafter a plurality of nail fasteners d are driven through the rear portion 42 of the shoe, said nail fasteners entering the underlying openings of the said apertured portions of said boss components 17 and 18. In practice a conventional automatic multiple-head nailing machine is employed, the machine holding a plurality of nail fasteners 50 in predetermined spaced relation, so that they will enter predetermined openings of said boss components. In the construction illustrated, as will be seen from Figures 8, 9 and 10, there are five nail fasteners 59 and one screw member 49-the nail fasteners being arranged. to enter the apertured portions 22, 23, 24 and 25 and the space 51 between the components 17 and 18.

The nails are so proportioned that they will readily enter the enlarged openings 22a, 23a, 24a and 25a and the space Sll, frictionally engaging the opposing sides, such as 32 and 33. It has been found that the nails can readily be driven into place, since they only engage opposing walls of the boss components. Similarly, the screw member 49 can be readily secured into place since it too only engages opposing walls. When the nails and screw member are in their respective final positions, as illustrated in Figure 7, for example, the heel member 15 is rigidly secured in place.

Due to the fact that the said apertured portions 22, 23, 24 and 25, and the opposing walls 35 and 36, as well as the walls defining the space 51 are divergently flared upwardly, they provide entrance openings somewhat wider than the diameter of the shanks of said fasteners, although the lower portions of said apertured portions are proportioned so that their corresponding opposing walls frictionally receive said fasteners. It is hence apparent that a self-locating arrangement is provided for the screw and nail fasteners.

In the form of my invention above described the attachment of the heel member to the shoe can be effected with substantially the same speed that characterizes the nailing of wooden heels to shoes. Yet, in this invention, a heel of cast material is employed, which has heretofore required the relatively slow and costly process of providing threaded apertures in the heel member, and forcing screws through the rear of the shoe into engagement with said threaded apertures. It is thus possible with my invention to employ cast heels, with their styling and structural advantages, and at the same time provide the benefits of high-speed attaching operations which characterize the attachment of the less desirable wood heels.

In the above description, the invention has been disclosed merely by way of example and in preferred manner; but obviously many variations and modifications may be made therein. It is to be understood, therefore, that the invention is not limited to any specific form or manner of practicing same, except insofar as such limitations are specified in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a heel member adapted to be secured to the rear portion of a shoe, a body portion having an upper portion of cast material formed in a centrally positioned bifurcated boss, said boss comprising two spaced components extending upwardly from said body portion and having top surfaces positioned in facing relation to the underside of the rear portion of said shoe, recessed portions disposed within said spaced components and extending downwardly therein to define a plurality of elongated openings, nail fasteners extending downwardly through said rear portion of said shoe and into said openings, and a screw fastener extending downwardly through said rear portion of said shoe and into the space between said spaced components.

2. In a heel member adapted to be secured to the rear portion of a shoe, a body portion having an upper portion of cast material formed in a centrally positioned boss, said boss comprising a plurality of spaced vertically disposed walls having top surfaces positioned in facing relation to the underside of the rear portion of said shoe, said spaced walls defining a plurality of spaces therebetween, and fasteners extending downwardly through said rear portion of said shoe and into said spaces between said walls and into frictional engagement with opposing faces of. said respective walls.

3. In a heel member adapted to be secured to the rear portion of a shoe, a body portion having an upper por tion of cast material formed in a centrally positioned bifurcated boss, said boss comprising two spaced components extending upwardly from said body portion and including a plurality of spaced vertically disposed walls, the upper surfaces of said walls positioned in facing relation to the underside of the rear portion of said shoe, nail fasteners extending downwardly through said rear portion of said shoe and into the spaces between the respective walls of each of said; components and into frictional engagement with opposing faces of said respective walls, the opposing faces of each of said components having oppositely positioned vertical grooves formed therein, and a screw fastener extending downwardly through said rear portion of said shoe and into the space between said components and into frictional engagement with said oppositely positioned grooves.

4. In a heel member according to claim 3, the opposing faces of the spaced walls of each of said spaced components and the opposing faces of each of said com ponents being flared in an upwardly direction.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,266,575 Treece Dec. 16, 1941 2,308,103 Pearson et al. .a Ian. 12, 1943 2,328,319 Barton Aug. 31, 1943 

